Transport in Bălţi

Public transport

Passenger transport in Bălţi is mainly carried out by the Bălţi Trolleybus Authority and Bălţi Bus Authority, as well as by private bus, minibus and taxi companies. The total amount of transported passengers in Bălţi for 2004 was 35,4 million passengers.Fact|date=December 2007

Buses and minibuses

The Bălţi Bus Authority (B.B.A.) provides for 10 regular bus routes in Bălţi and its near agglomeration. There are also private bus and minibus services, which are not regulated by the B.B.A. There are around 25 minibus lines in Bălţi and its agglomeration.

Trolleybuses

There are 3 trolleybus lines in Bălţi, the fourth line being planned to be constructed in 2007-2008. Most troleybusses used by the Bălţi Trolleybus Authority (B.T.A.) are different modifications of Russian ZiU and of Czech Škoda.

Taxis

Bălţi offers a wide choice of taxi services (more than 5 companies), most of which with a fixed tarif in the inner city. Three taxi companies are branches of Moldovan national companies, two taxi companies are Bălţi registered businesses.

The "per km/time" fees is currently being enforced by the government through difficult negotiations with taxi trade unions.

Motorways

Bălţi was and is an important transportation hub of Moldova.

The best inter-city transportation is coach or van (privately or publicly owned). 135 km of Soviet style highway (portions in good or fair condition) connect the city to the capital Chişinău. By road one can also reach Ukraine (in about 2 hours) to the north or to the east, and Romania (1 hour) to the south-west by the Sculeni-Sculeni crossing point, which leads to the important Romanian city of Iaşi (104 km from Bălţi), or to the west by the Stânca-Costeşti crossing.

The Bălţi Inter-City Coach Station is one of the biggest in Moldova and provides for regular bus connections to almost any city and village in Moldova, as well as for numerous European and international connections (Eurolines).

Train Stations

Regular railroad connection to Ocniţa (north), Rezina (east) and Ungheni (south-east), as well as to Chişinău exists, however it takes today 6 hours to cover the 200 km to Chişinău.

The railroad lines are not electrified, and contain only a single track between stations. Since Moldova gained independence, the railroad lines became the responsibility of Calea Ferată din Moldova (Railways of Moldova) State company.

There are two railroad stations: Bălţi-City Station and Bălţi-Slobozia Station (the name of a city neighborhood), which both serve internal and international traffic.

Airports

The city also has two operational airports. One of them, Bălţi-Leadoveni International Airport (colloquially mentioned as Bălţi Airport), 15km north of the city center (near the village of Corlăteni, formerly called Leadoveni), modern by Soviet standards, built in 1980s, where large aircraft can land (one 2,200 meters runway), is officially certified and operates both charter passenger and cargo flights. As of October 2007, it does not operate regular passenger flights.

A second airport, for small aircraft, Bălţi-City Airport, is located on the Eastern outskirts of the city. It was the most important airport in the surrounding region during World War II, but currently is only used for municiâl and regional public services, agriculture, emergency services and pilot training.